Love and Obey YHWH
Deuteronomy 11Therefore you are to love YHWH your God, and keep ʜɪꜱ instructions, ʜɪꜱ statutes, ʜɪꜱ ordinances, and ʜɪꜱ commandments always. Y’all must know this day—for I don’t speak with y’all’s children who have not known and have not seen the discipline of YHWH y’all’s God, with ʜɪꜱ greatness, ʜɪꜱ mighty hand, ʜɪꜱ outstretched arm, ʜɪꜱ signs, and ʜɪꜱ works, which ʜᴇ did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all ʜɪꜱ land; and what ʜᴇ did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots, how ʜᴇ made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them as they were pursuing y’all, and how YHWH has destroyed them to this day, and what ʜᴇ did to y’all in the wilderness until y’all came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben—how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the middle of all Israel. But y’all’s own eyes have seen every great work that YHWH did.
Therefore y’all must keep the every commandment which I am commanding y’all today, so that y’all may be strong and go in and possess the land that y’all are about to cross over and possess, and so that y’all may prolong y’all’s days in the land which YHWH swore to y’all’s ancestors to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land y’all are going in to possess isn’t like the land of Egypt where y’all came from, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs. Instead the land y’all are entering to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky, a land which YHWH your God cares for. The eyes of YHWH your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. If y’all will listen-listen to my commandments that I am commanding y’all today, to love YHWH y’all’s God, and to serve him with all y’all’s heart and with all y’all’s soul, then I will give the rain for y’all’s land in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and fresh oil. I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be full. Y’all must careful so that y’all’s heart is not deceived, that y’all do not turn away to serve other gods and worship them. Then YHWH’s anger be kindled against y’all, and ʜᴇ shut will up the sky so that there it will not rain, and the land will not yield its fruit. Y’all will perish quickly from the good land that YHWH is giving y’all. Therefore y’all are to fix these words of mine on your* heart and in your* soul. Y’all are to bind them as a sign on your* hand, and they will a symbol between your* eyes. Y’all are to teach them to y’all’s children, talking about them when y’all sit in your* house, when y’all walk along the road, when y’all lie down, and when y’all get up. Write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates, so that y’all’s days and y’all’s children’s days may be multiplied in the land which YHWH swore to y’all’s ancestors to give them, for all the days that the heavens are above the earth. For if y’all keep-keep all these commandments which I am commanding y’all to do—to love YHWH y’all’s God, to walk in all ʜɪꜱ ways, and to cling to ʜɪᴍ— then YHWH will drive out all these nations before y’all, and y’all will drive out nations greater and mightier than y’all. Every place where the sole of your* foot treads will be y’all’s. Y’all’s territory will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, from the river Euphrates to the Mediterranean sea. No one will be able to stand against y’all. YHWH y’all’s God will put a fear and dread of y’all upon all the land that y’all walk on, as ʜᴇ has said to y’all. Look, today I am setting before y’all a blessing and a curse: the blessing if y’all listen to the commandments of YHWH y’all’s God, that I am commanding y’all today, and the curse if y’all do not listen to the commandments of YHWH y’all’s God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding y’all today by following after other gods which y’all have not known. It will happen, when YHWH your God brings you into the land that you go to possess, that you will set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. Aren’t they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? For y’all are to pass over the Jordan to go in take possession of the land that YHWH your* God is giving y’all, and y’all are to possess it and live in it. Y’all must be careful to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I am setting before y’all today.